Fans Cry Foul Over PED Use on Their Way to the Pharmacy

In The Performance-Enhancing Dichotomy, BC Magazine's sports editor Matt Sussman addresses the double standard that is the use of steroid and PEDs (performance enhancing drugs) use in one sport over another. I’m not in favor of steroids because they’re freaking dangerous, but I’m also not in favor of a whole other double standard.

There doesn’t appear to be any fundamental difference between PED use in the sports arena and PED use in the sexual arena. Aren’t the motivations basically the same? If so, and I think they are, then what makes it okay for men to use PEDs for sexual conquest but not for any other form of athleticism?

You can cry out that the difference is the spirit of competition and/or an unfair advantage all you want, but the bottom line is that whether it’s bump-and-run or wham-bam, men often concede to other men when it comes to women, but by god they want their man. And apparently they want (or so they say) their man “clean.” Come on now, fans. Did the athlete not deliver what was asked of him? I believe he did. So what’s your beef, Blue Pill?

I’ve never heard of a woman turning to her ED drug-enhanced lover and exclaiming, “That wasn’t real sex. I feel betrayed. My happiness, glee, joy and satisfaction are for naught!” Hell, some might even suggest adding ecstasy to the mix. I’ve also never heard of a man turning away from a porn flick because he found out the male lead was using an ED drug.

A lot of sports fans, and for that matter the officials who write the rules, are some of the most unforgiving hypocrites to walk the earth. A man’s reinforcement of carnal conviviality is one public ritual short of a sacrament, but the PED-using athlete is damned and doomed. What the hell?

This all seems way less about what is and isn’t fair or legal or even safe, and much more about shouting, “Teacher, he’s cheating!” to avoid being caught yourself. If you’re going to despise an athlete, do it for a reason that does not also apply to you. The man in the stands can at least rest assured his status as pious ED drug-using sports fan is so unimportant to the steroid-built athlete he chastises over Bud Lights that he probably won’t get the shit beat out of him \behind the school gym.

Article Author: Diana Hartman

Diana Hartman is a (ret.) USMC spouse, mother of three in college and a Wichita, Kansas native. She is a contributing writer to Holiday Writes and can be found on Twitter.

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